There was a rich man who was dressed in… fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day… In Hades he was being tormented. Luke 16:19, 23.

Mary Claerout, in her book Friday She Gave Him Flowers, tells the story of Willings, a confirmed bachelor. Every Friday his maid put flowers on his breakfast table. ‘Today she put twenty white roses on the table; it must cost her a fortune; she must simply adore me,’ he thought. As he contemplated the flowers, a warm feeling swept through him. He thought, ‘The woman is a blessing; if only she weren’t so ugly.’

He thought about himself. He was a lady’s man. As a boy he loathed looking at others with pimples and acne and blackheads. He abhorred their wrinkles and warts. His stomach turned over when he saw hair growing out of noses and ears. All his life he had seen only one flawless mouth, his own. He enjoyed himself, being alone… He decided to thank Emily for the flowers and called her in.

She said, ‘Oh, it’s nothing to speak of really Mr Willings. It’s just that I feel so sorry for the flowers. Hardly used they are, when the undertaker puts them our for Friday’s rubbish collection. So I always pick a few out when I go by. I wouldn’t want them at home, you know, seeing where they come from. That’s why I put them in your vase. I mean, it’s not your own choosing that you are all alone and don’t have any friends. At least you should have a few flowers.’

How pathetic, Jesus, to have lived self-centredly… Amen.

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• God Will Redeem My Life From The Grave
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